Want Flextime? Write a Business Proposal

That 9-to-5 workday seems so rigid. Especially now that people have laptops, smart phones, iPads, and other tools to do their job at anytime of the day. So why do companies insist you work in the office during that eight-hour stretch?

Well, they shouldn’t. And more and more companies have loosened the rules a bit to allow workers to spend part of the day at home. But how do you convince your employer, who doesn’t currently have many flextime options, to allow you to work from home, at least part of the day? CNNMoney’s Anne Fisher says build a business proposal.

First, make the case that working flexible hours won’t damage your productivity — and may even improve it.

…So start by marshalling some supporting evidence. The Towers Watson 2010 Global Workforce study mentioned above, for instance, says that people who work off-site some of the time are just as productive (41%) as their deskbound colleagues, or more so (47%). Only 11% of those 20,000 poll respondents said that flextime damages productivity. (1% had no opinion.)

Once you have established that other companies have had little problem with flextime workers then start predicting your bosses concerns. If you have regular afternoon meetings, let the boss know you will listen in via Skype or explain how people can contact you when they have a tight deadline.

“In short, the more details you can provide on how this would work, the more willing your boss may be to let you give it a try,” writes Fisher.

Of course, once you get the flextime, make sure you show the boss that s/he made the right decision. People just like looking right.